Why Not UN Not Interview Baloch - gilgit -sindh people?

Indian week policy

Western country not interested

Pakistan has been trying to brutally suppress
the Baloch resistance ever since it occupied
Balochistan in 1948. People of Balochistan
distrusted Muhammad Ali Jinnah and did not
want to go with Pakistan. In 1947, the Baloch
ruler even sent emissaries to India, seeking
India's help. But India’s Prime Minister Nehru
turned a blind eye.
Jinnah first tried to persuade Mir Ahmadyar
Khan, the Khan of Kalat to join Pakistan but he
did not agree. Following this, the army was
ordered to move into the Baloch territory. The
Khan signed a pact at gun point. Since then,
thousands of Balochs have been massacred,
thousands were abducted and tortured. Baloch
leaders say about 4000 children were
massacred over the years.
According to Salahuddin Baloch, an activist,
on March 17, 2016, the Pakistani authorities
announced head-money for 99 Baloch rebels.
The rebel groups say that they are fighting
against the Pakistani occupation whereas the
authorities call them terrorists. Currently, the
resource-rich Balochistan is the poorest and
least developed province of Pakistan. Human
rights groups claim there are more than
20,000 Baloch missing persons, a phrase used
to refer to those who have been picked by
armed forces and their whereabouts are
unknown. “They ended up as mutilated dead
bodies thrown at an isolated place,” he notes.
According to him, nearly a million of Baloch
have been displaced by military operations,
which are often marked by indiscriminate
lethal bombings. “Undoubtedly, had there
been an independent fact-finding commission,
sent and monitored by the UN, Pakistan would
not be able to defend the charges of targeted
genocide.”

India should highlight the plight of Balochs in
international forums. “Amnesty International
and other human rights organizations have
been accusing Pakistan of war crimes and
human rights violations, which it constantly
denies and yet does not permit foreign
diplomats and journalists to freely visit
Balochistan.

For many Indians, Balochistan suddenly
surfaced on the world map when Prime
Minister Narendra Modi referred to
Pakistan's troubled province during his
Independence Day speech last Monday. Yet
through his carefully crafted words from
the ramparts of Red Fort, the Prime
Minister was merely lifting the veil off one
of the most brutal and sustained conflicts
in human history that Pakistan had for so
long been largely able to keep under wraps.
By merely mentioning the "B" word before
a global audience and in presence of the
entire foreign diplomatic corps, Modi
achieved two objectives crucial to India.
One, he launched a handy counter-
narrative to Pakistan's propaganda war
over Kashmir. Two, he dealt a strategic
masterstroke by uncovering Pakistan's
dirtiest secret that left Islamabad red-faced
and foaming at the mouth, though there is
no dearth of sceptics who think that this
new strategic shift surrenders India's
moral high and might either backfire or get
India nowhere.

But there is another important
repercussion, one that could have a greater
impact beyond the game of one-upmanship
between two South Asian neighbours. The
Prime Minister of the world's largest
democracy, by simply "thanking Baloch
people for their good wishes", may have
just breathed new life into their long
struggle for self-determination.
The Baloch are a proud people with a
distinct history that dates back at least to
the pre-Islamic era and a unique
geographical location amid one of the
world's most mineral-rich zones. At 42 per
cent, it has nearly half of entire Pakistan's
landmass but is smallest by population,
home to just 13 million people. Here's one
example to illustrate just how fiercely the
Baloch guard their separate identity.
Firstpost put out a story on how Karima
Baloch, sent out a Raksha Bandhan
greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
(more on it later) but identified her as a
Pakistani national. She corrected us
immediately:

Balochistan is a confluence of different
ethnic tribes including the dominant
Balochis and a sizeable Pashtun population.
Ironically, despite having the most
abundant natural resources in natural gas,
oil, coal, copper, sulphur, fluoride and
gold, it is also one of Pakistan's poorest
provinces.

The roots of the Balochistan conflict go back
till the country's independence and lie in
Pakistan's annexation of an independent,
sovereign nation. Unlike Pakistan, an
experimental, test-tube state forged by the
British with an intent to divide India along
its racial and religious fault lines,
Balochistan always had all the ingredients
of a separate nation-state. The Baloch were
and remain a fiercely independent people,
with a cultural identity backed by a long
history and a social identity different from
Pakistan's.
As AK Mengal, Nationalist Leader and
former chief minister (1972-73) of
Balochistan province told BBC in a 1987
Channel 4 documentary, Balochistan: The
Gathering Storm : "Baloch has a history of a
different identity. It has all the qualities of
a separate nation. It has got its own
language, it has got its own culture, own
heroes and it has got its own land."
The concept of Balochistan as a nation-state
was formed in 1410. Stretching till Iran to
the west and Afghanistan to the north, it
was an independent country before the
British attacked and annexed it in 1839.
The British later arbitrarily sliced
Balochistan into three pieces irrespective of
its ethno or socio-economic
traditions through two artificial borders -
the Goldsmith Line (1871) and the Durand
Line (1895). Northern Balochistan and
western Balochistan were given to Iran and
Afghanistan, respectively, and eastern
Balochistan (which is now under Pakistan
occupation) remained independent and
maintained treaty relations with the British.
The British remained in eastern Balochistan
until 1947 and at the time of their
departure they recognised Balochistan as
an independent state.
The Khan of Kalat, who presided over
nearly all of Balochistan barring three
minor principalities, had the choice to
either accede to India or Pakistan through
merger or remain an independent nation.
Three days before Pakistan separated from
India, a tripartite agreement was signed
between the British, the ruler of
Balochistan and what would be the new
Pakistan administration accepting Baloch
sovereignty. The Khan of Kalat wanted to
maintain a treaty-based, brotherly
relationship with Pakistan.
GB Bizenjo, former governor of Balochistan
in 1972-73, told BBC Channel 4: "On 11
August, 1947, a communiqué was released
from the Viceroy's House. It was broadcast
that Kalat of Khan is not an Indian state but
a sovereign, independent state with treaty
relations with British Empire. Both Houses
(House of Commons and House of Lords
drawn after the British empire) in Khanate
of Kalat, the princely state, voted against
accession."

Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali
Jinnah's machinations ensured that
Pakistan marched into the country in
March 1948 and annexed it. Though Mir
Ahmed Yar Khan, the then ruler of Kalat,
signed a 'treaty of accession' under the
threat of imprisonment, his brothers and
followers continued to fight, triggering the
first conflict between Baloch and the
Pakistani Army. The Baloch Parliament
never accepted this treaty and it never
received people's mandate.
So far, there have been five waves of
insurgencies starting with the 1948
rebellion. There were uprisings in 1958,
1962-63 and 1973-77. After two decades of
relative lull, the fifth Baloch insurgency
movement began in 2003. In 2006, tallest
Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti
was assassinated in a targeted plot by the
Pakistan army.
For all these years, Balochistan has
remained under the yoke of Pakistani
oppression - political subjugation, economic
exploitation, cultural hegemony and
military excesses - resulting in gross human
rights violations and untold atrocities for
over seven decades.
The last 15 years have been particularly
brutal. Naela Quadri Baloch, a self-exiled
rights activist and Canada-based women's
leader campaigning against Pakistan's
presence in her land, told The Times of India
during a recent visit that Pakistan's torture
amounts to genocide.
"For the last 15 years, we are facing war
imposed on us by Pakistan, human rights
violations and their kill-and-dump policy.
(Around) 25,000 people including women
and children are missing… abducted by
Pakistan Army. It has reached the level of
genocide. There are a hundred mass graves
in Balochistan. It is a war situation. They
fire indiscriminately, they kill anything -
one-year-old babies, girls, women and
even our cattle. They abduct and take
Baloch women into their rape cells. There
are official torture cells. They have
abducted thousands of women- no one
knows their whereabouts. They are using
rape and dishonour as an instrument to
crush a nation."
A report in The Guardian collates some of
the gross human rights violations,
extrajudicial killings, enforced
disappearances of militants and activists
and crimes against humanity carried out by
the Pakistan army and reported by various
human rights organizations.
"In December 2005, Sardar Ataullah
Mengal, Balochistan's former chief
minister, reported that Pakistani troops had
used chemical weapons against Baloch
tribespeople. He produced photographs of
individuals bleeding from their mouths and
noses, who he said were civilian victims of
poison gas attacks. Other reports allege
Pakistan's use of napalm and cluster bombs
in civilian areas.
"On March 17, 2005, the Pakistan military
shelled the town of Dera Bugti, killing more
than 70 civilians. In December that year,
Islamabad's military operation against the
Marri Baloch people killed 86 and wounded
120. Many of the victims were women and
young children.
"A 2006 report by the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
documented arbitrary arrests and
detention, torture, extra-judicial and
summary executions, disappearances and
the use of excessive and indiscriminate
violence by Pakistan's police, military,
security and intelligence forces. These
findings were corroborated by Amnesty
International."
A 2014 report in BBC tells of a discovery on
17 January, 2013, of bodies from a mass
grave in the village of Tutak near Khuzdar
in Balochistan province. Only two of the
mutilated, decomposed bodies have been
identified so far - both were men who had
disappeared four months earlier."
Naela Quadri Baloch tells The Times of
India the account of a journalist who "was
abducted, tortured and he witnessed a 25-
year-old Baloch schoolteacher Zarina Marri
in a rape cell. When he was released, he
gave his report and testimony to Asian
Human Rights Watch."
And LiveLeak appeared to corroborate the
account, citing Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) that a 23-year old
Baloch school teacher "had been repeatedly
raped by the military officers and is being
used as a sex slave, to induce arrested
nationalist activists to sign state-concocted
confessions." The report quoted sources as
saying that "there were [referring to an
eye-witness account] young Balochi females
seen at those two torture cells, naked and
in distress… the women are sexually
abused in the military custody but they
cannot say so publicly because of their
sanctity and harassment of their families."
This was also confirmed in a NDTV article
which quoted European Organization of
Pakistani Minorities (EOPM), an NGO
working for the rights of minorities in
Pakistan, in saying that Pakistani army is
sexually assaulting minority women and
using them as sex slaves. EOPM reported
that women of Balochistan and Gilgit
Baltistan were being abducted by Pakistan
army officials and taken to torture camps,
where they are raped and used as sex
slaves.
But why and how did Pakistan get away
with such large-scale acts of violence? Why
has the United Nations looked the other
way and international community
maintained a deathly silence?
In the game of chess that is geopolitical
strategies, Balochistan has always remained
a pawn at the hands of influential players
such as Britain, Russia, America and now
increasingly, China. In terms of both
economy and national security, Balochistan
remains of huge strategic interest for both
Iran and Pakistan.
As for western powers, Baloch plight is
nothing more than a collateral damage
because Pakistan must be kept on their side
for the so-called, unending war on terror
even though Islamabad uses the abundance
of aid to foment more terror in the region.
There have been recent signs of US
disillusionment with Pakistan's policy of
using terrorism as state policy but there is
an apprehension nevertheless that if
Balochistan is allowed to break free, it will
unleash the same terrorism genie that is
troubling the middle east.
India has suddenly altered this delicate and
complex balance by declaring moral
support for the Baloch people in their
struggle for freedom. And Modi's gesture
has been welcomed with open arms by
Baloch activists and nationalist leaders.
While Naela Quadri Baloch urged the Prime
Minister to take up the issue at the United
Nations in September, Karima Baloch, a
young student leader from the turbulent
region took the occasion of Raksha
Bandhan to express her gratitude towards
Modi.
In a YouTube post, Karima, the chairperson
of Baloch Student Organisation, requested
Modi to be a brother to Baloch women who
have lost their brothers in atrocities
inflicted by Pakistan Army.
"Hum apni jung khud lad lege, aap bas humari
awaaz ban jae (We will fight our own war,
you just be our voice)," Karima said, in her
message to PM Modi, requesting him to
engage the world in a dialogue about the
genocide and human rights violations in
Balochistan.

It remains to be seen how India approaches
the Baloch equation. Will it merely use
Baloch struggle as a leverage against
Pakistan, or internationalise the issue
further to create more pressure on
Islamabad.

Pakistan has been trying to brutally suppress
the Baloch resistance ever since it occupied
Balochistan in 1948. People of Balochistan
distrusted Muhammad Ali Jinnah and did not
want to go with Pakistan. In 1947, the Baloch
ruler even sent emissaries to India, seeking
India's help. But India’s Prime Minister Nehru
turned a blind eye.
Jinnah first tried to persuade Mir Ahmadyar
Khan, the Khan of Kalat to join Pakistan but he
did not agree. Following this, the army was
ordered to move into the Baloch territory. The
Khan signed a pact at gun point. Since then,
thousands of Balochs have been massacred,
thousands were abducted and tortured. Baloch
leaders say about 4000 children were
massacred over the years.
According to Salahuddin Baloch, an activist,
on March 17, 2016, the Pakistani authorities
announced head-money for 99 Baloch rebels.
The rebel groups say that they are fighting
against the Pakistani occupation whereas the
authorities call them terrorists. Currently, the
resource-rich Balochistan is the poorest and
least developed province of Pakistan. Human
rights groups claim there are more than
20,000 Baloch missing persons, a phrase used
to refer to those who have been picked by
armed forces and their whereabouts are
unknown. “They ended up as mutilated dead
bodies thrown at an isolated place,” he notes.
According to him, nearly a million of Baloch
have been displaced by military operations,
which are often marked by indiscriminate
lethal bombings. “Undoubtedly, had there
been an independent fact-finding commission,
sent and monitored by the UN, Pakistan would
not be able to defend the charges of targeted
genocide.”

India should highlight the plight of Balochs in
international forums. “Amnesty International
and other human rights organizations have
been accusing Pakistan of war crimes and
human rights violations, which it constantly
denies and yet does not permit foreign
diplomats and journalists to freely visit
Balochistan.

For many Indians, Balochistan suddenly
surfaced on the world map when Prime
Minister Narendra Modi referred to
Pakistan's troubled province during his
Independence Day speech last Monday. Yet
through his carefully crafted words from
the ramparts of Red Fort, the Prime
Minister was merely lifting the veil off one
of the most brutal and sustained conflicts
in human history that Pakistan had for so
long been largely able to keep under wraps.
By merely mentioning the "B" word before
a global audience and in presence of the
entire foreign diplomatic corps, Modi
achieved two objectives crucial to India.
One, he launched a handy counter-
narrative to Pakistan's propaganda war
over Kashmir. Two, he dealt a strategic
masterstroke by uncovering Pakistan's
dirtiest secret that left Islamabad red-faced
and foaming at the mouth, though there is
no dearth of sceptics who think that this
new strategic shift surrenders India's
moral high and might either backfire or get
India nowhere.

But there is another important
repercussion, one that could have a greater
impact beyond the game of one-upmanship
between two South Asian neighbours. The
Prime Minister of the world's largest
democracy, by simply "thanking Baloch
people for their good wishes", may have
just breathed new life into their long
struggle for self-determination.
The Baloch are a proud people with a
distinct history that dates back at least to
the pre-Islamic era and a unique
geographical location amid one of the
world's most mineral-rich zones. At 42 per
cent, it has nearly half of entire Pakistan's
landmass but is smallest by population,
home to just 13 million people. Here's one
example to illustrate just how fiercely the
Baloch guard their separate identity.
Firstpost put out a story on how Karima
Baloch, sent out a Raksha Bandhan
greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
(more on it later) but identified her as a
Pakistani national. She corrected us
immediately:

Balochistan is a confluence of different
ethnic tribes including the dominant
Balochis and a sizeable Pashtun population.
Ironically, despite having the most
abundant natural resources in natural gas,
oil, coal, copper, sulphur, fluoride and
gold, it is also one of Pakistan's poorest
provinces.

The roots of the Balochistan conflict go back
till the country's independence and lie in
Pakistan's annexation of an independent,
sovereign nation. Unlike Pakistan, an
experimental, test-tube state forged by the
British with an intent to divide India along
its racial and religious fault lines,
Balochistan always had all the ingredients
of a separate nation-state. The Baloch were
and remain a fiercely independent people,
with a cultural identity backed by a long
history and a social identity different from
Pakistan's.
As AK Mengal, Nationalist Leader and
former chief minister (1972-73) of
Balochistan province told BBC in a 1987
Channel 4 documentary, Balochistan: The
Gathering Storm : "Baloch has a history of a
different identity. It has all the qualities of
a separate nation. It has got its own
language, it has got its own culture, own
heroes and it has got its own land."
The concept of Balochistan as a nation-state
was formed in 1410. Stretching till Iran to
the west and Afghanistan to the north, it
was an independent country before the
British attacked and annexed it in 1839.
The British later arbitrarily sliced
Balochistan into three pieces irrespective of
its ethno or socio-economic
traditions through two artificial borders -
the Goldsmith Line (1871) and the Durand
Line (1895). Northern Balochistan and
western Balochistan were given to Iran and
Afghanistan, respectively, and eastern
Balochistan (which is now under Pakistan
occupation) remained independent and
maintained treaty relations with the British.
The British remained in eastern Balochistan
until 1947 and at the time of their
departure they recognised Balochistan as
an independent state.
The Khan of Kalat, who presided over
nearly all of Balochistan barring three
minor principalities, had the choice to
either accede to India or Pakistan through
merger or remain an independent nation.
Three days before Pakistan separated from
India, a tripartite agreement was signed
between the British, the ruler of
Balochistan and what would be the new
Pakistan administration accepting Baloch
sovereignty. The Khan of Kalat wanted to
maintain a treaty-based, brotherly
relationship with Pakistan.
GB Bizenjo, former governor of Balochistan
in 1972-73, told BBC Channel 4: "On 11
August, 1947, a communiqué was released
from the Viceroy's House. It was broadcast
that Kalat of Khan is not an Indian state but
a sovereign, independent state with treaty
relations with British Empire. Both Houses
(House of Commons and House of Lords
drawn after the British empire) in Khanate
of Kalat, the princely state, voted against
accession."

Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali
Jinnah's machinations ensured that
Pakistan marched into the country in
March 1948 and annexed it. Though Mir
Ahmed Yar Khan, the then ruler of Kalat,
signed a 'treaty of accession' under the
threat of imprisonment, his brothers and
followers continued to fight, triggering the
first conflict between Baloch and the
Pakistani Army. The Baloch Parliament
never accepted this treaty and it never
received people's mandate.
So far, there have been five waves of
insurgencies starting with the 1948
rebellion. There were uprisings in 1958,
1962-63 and 1973-77. After two decades of
relative lull, the fifth Baloch insurgency
movement began in 2003. In 2006, tallest
Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti
was assassinated in a targeted plot by the
Pakistan army.
For all these years, Balochistan has
remained under the yoke of Pakistani
oppression - political subjugation, economic
exploitation, cultural hegemony and
military excesses - resulting in gross human
rights violations and untold atrocities for
over seven decades.
The last 15 years have been particularly
brutal. Naela Quadri Baloch, a self-exiled
rights activist and Canada-based women's
leader campaigning against Pakistan's
presence in her land, told The Times of India
during a recent visit that Pakistan's torture
amounts to genocide.
"For the last 15 years, we are facing war
imposed on us by Pakistan, human rights
violations and their kill-and-dump policy.
(Around) 25,000 people including women
and children are missing… abducted by
Pakistan Army. It has reached the level of
genocide. There are a hundred mass graves
in Balochistan. It is a war situation. They
fire indiscriminately, they kill anything -
one-year-old babies, girls, women and
even our cattle. They abduct and take
Baloch women into their rape cells. There
are official torture cells. They have
abducted thousands of women- no one
knows their whereabouts. They are using
rape and dishonour as an instrument to
crush a nation."
A report in The Guardian collates some of
the gross human rights violations,
extrajudicial killings, enforced
disappearances of militants and activists
and crimes against humanity carried out by
the Pakistan army and reported by various
human rights organizations.
"In December 2005, Sardar Ataullah
Mengal, Balochistan's former chief
minister, reported that Pakistani troops had
used chemical weapons against Baloch
tribespeople. He produced photographs of
individuals bleeding from their mouths and
noses, who he said were civilian victims of
poison gas attacks. Other reports allege
Pakistan's use of napalm and cluster bombs
in civilian areas.
"On March 17, 2005, the Pakistan military
shelled the town of Dera Bugti, killing more
than 70 civilians. In December that year,
Islamabad's military operation against the
Marri Baloch people killed 86 and wounded
120. Many of the victims were women and
young children.
"A 2006 report by the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
documented arbitrary arrests and
detention, torture, extra-judicial and
summary executions, disappearances and
the use of excessive and indiscriminate
violence by Pakistan's police, military,
security and intelligence forces. These
findings were corroborated by Amnesty
International."
A 2014 report in BBC tells of a discovery on
17 January, 2013, of bodies from a mass
grave in the village of Tutak near Khuzdar
in Balochistan province. Only two of the
mutilated, decomposed bodies have been
identified so far - both were men who had
disappeared four months earlier."
Naela Quadri Baloch tells The Times of
India the account of a journalist who "was
abducted, tortured and he witnessed a 25-
year-old Baloch schoolteacher Zarina Marri
in a rape cell. When he was released, he
gave his report and testimony to Asian
Human Rights Watch."
And LiveLeak appeared to corroborate the
account, citing Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) that a 23-year old
Baloch school teacher "had been repeatedly
raped by the military officers and is being
used as a sex slave, to induce arrested
nationalist activists to sign state-concocted
confessions." The report quoted sources as
saying that "there were [referring to an
eye-witness account] young Balochi females
seen at those two torture cells, naked and
in distress… the women are sexually
abused in the military custody but they
cannot say so publicly because of their
sanctity and harassment of their families."
This was also confirmed in a NDTV article
which quoted European Organization of
Pakistani Minorities (EOPM), an NGO
working for the rights of minorities in
Pakistan, in saying that Pakistani army is
sexually assaulting minority women and
using them as sex slaves. EOPM reported
that women of Balochistan and Gilgit
Baltistan were being abducted by Pakistan
army officials and taken to torture camps,
where they are raped and used as sex
slaves.
But why and how did Pakistan get away
with such large-scale acts of violence? Why
has the United Nations looked the other
way and international community
maintained a deathly silence?
In the game of chess that is geopolitical
strategies, Balochistan has always remained
a pawn at the hands of influential players
such as Britain, Russia, America and now
increasingly, China. In terms of both
economy and national security, Balochistan
remains of huge strategic interest for both
Iran and Pakistan.
As for western powers, Baloch plight is
nothing more than a collateral damage
because Pakistan must be kept on their side
for the so-called, unending war on terror
even though Islamabad uses the abundance
of aid to foment more terror in the region.
There have been recent signs of US
disillusionment with Pakistan's policy of
using terrorism as state policy but there is
an apprehension nevertheless that if
Balochistan is allowed to break free, it will
unleash the same terrorism genie that is
troubling the middle east.
India has suddenly altered this delicate and
complex balance by declaring moral
support for the Baloch people in their
struggle for freedom. And Modi's gesture
has been welcomed with open arms by
Baloch activists and nationalist leaders.
While Naela Quadri Baloch urged the Prime
Minister to take up the issue at the United
Nations in September, Karima Baloch, a
young student leader from the turbulent
region took the occasion of Raksha
Bandhan to express her gratitude towards
Modi.
In a YouTube post, Karima, the chairperson
of Baloch Student Organisation, requested
Modi to be a brother to Baloch women who
have lost their brothers in atrocities
inflicted by Pakistan Army.
"Hum apni jung khud lad lege, aap bas humari
awaaz ban jae (We will fight our own war,
you just be our voice)," Karima said, in her
message to PM Modi, requesting him to
engage the world in a dialogue about the
genocide and human rights violations in
Balochistan.

It remains to be seen how India approaches
the Baloch equation. Will it merely use
Baloch struggle as a leverage against
Pakistan, or internationalise the issue
further to create more pressure on
Islamabad.[/QUOT